Thermally Integrated Photonic Systems: Latest Advances and Prospects

Dear Colleagues,

The thermal management of photonic-integrated circuits (PICs) used to transmit high-speed optical data is fast becoming a critical design challenge, due to exponentially growing demand for internet capacity, which is putting the current architecture under immense strain. Future telecommunication networks will be required to consume less energy whilst undergoing a much greater level of component integration. Packing more functionality within a smaller footprint to enable higher data rates requires thermally integrated, scalable cooling solutions in order to contend with the extremely large local heat fluxes associated with high-performing, miniaturized active optical devices. Currently, thermal inefficiencies exist that severely limit the scaling of PICs beyond the state of the art. Removing these design inefficiencies requires optimized thermal design as close to the heat source as possible, as well as reductions in the parasitic thermal resistances that traditionally exist between heat source and sink. Improved heat spreading via high thermal conductivity laser cladding materials and incorporation of μ-thermoelectric coolers (μTECs) around each individual laser via the back end of line CMOS-compatible processing routes are of particular and growing interest in this regard. This Special Issue aims to cover recent device-level advances in the development of thermally integrated photonic systems.

Dr. Graeme Cunningham
Guest Editor

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• PIC cooling solutions
• optoelectronic integration
• thermal integration
• BEOL CMOS compatible processes
• high thermal conductivity cladding materials
• μThermoelectric Coolers (μTECs)